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CADNA Supports ICANN's Initiative to Examine gTLD WHOIS Policy and Hopes for
Results




WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Coalition Against Domain
Name Abuse (CADNA) supports ICANN's initiative to examine gTLD WHOIS policy.
CADNA's Top Ten List from September 22, 2009, identified WHOIS reform as a
priority action for ICANN.

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070724/DCTU006LOGO)

It is important that all domain names have full and accurate registrant and
contact information to enable the identification and prosecution of bad
actors. CADNA urges ICANN to ensure that registrars require their customers to
display accurate WHOIS records in order to promote accountability in the
space.

"Addressing numerous issues corrupting the domain name space should be a top
concern for ICANN," said Josh Bourne, President of CADNA.

On October 23, ICANN requested proposals from independent researchers to
examine the accuracy of reported WHOIS information. WHOIS databases are
maintained by the registrars of record for all domains and hold identifying
information such as the registrant of the domain and the registrant's physical
and email addresses. To date, ICANN has not done enough to ensure that
registrars and their customers display current and accurate WHOIS. As a
result, mal-intending domain name owners have been able to operate anonymously
and evade apprehension.

Congressional and White House concerns about cybersecurity make ICANN's
decision to review WHOIS timely. A poorly operated WHOIS program is a threat
to national security. CADNA urges both Congress and the White House to further
explore the critical importance of an accurate WHOIS program to national
security as they begin to draft legislation and hold hearings in the coming
months.

A stable and transparent Internet is not possible without WHOIS reform.
CADNA's list of issues that ICANN must address in order to ensure a safe,
secure Internet for users worldwide can be found on CADNA's Web site.

The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) is a 501(c)(6) non-profit
organization dedicated to ending the systemic domain name abuses that plague
the Internet today. For more information, please visit www.cadna.org.


SOURCE  Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse

Yvette Wojciechowski of CADNA, +1-202-223-9355, press@cadna.org